A state board Wednesday authorized up to $306 million in state bond financing for a trash-to-energy plant on Kearny Mesa that would convert 30% of San Diego County's garbage into electricity. A site for the plant, near the Miramar Naval Air Station, will be determined after Navy and city officials complete a land swap. So far, Signal RESCO Inc.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday that consumer appliance manufacturers must comply with state laws that require them to display information about energy consumption on products they sell in California. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower-court decision in a 2002 lawsuit filed by appliance manufacturers associations against the California Energy Commission.

Environmental advocates, government regulators and the cable and satellite television industry have reached a landmark agreement to save an estimated $1 billion a year in energy costs by making TV set-top boxes more efficient. The voluntary agreement aims to make an estimated 90 million boxes in homes as much as 45% more energy-efficient by 2017. The boxes are considered energy hogs because they always are on, even when the television is turned off. The upgraded boxes could save enough power to run 700,000 homes, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the deal brokers.

California's utilities are falling behind schedule in meeting a deadline that 20% of their electricity must come from renewable resources by 2010, newly issued reports from two energy agencies show. In separate updates, state energy regulators paint markedly different pictures of how California is progressing in efforts to procure power from sun, wind, water and waste. But both indicate that a crucial piece of the state's ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gases is sputtering.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday reappointed Joseph Desmond, his top power advisor, as chairman of the California Energy Commission, ignoring warnings from Democratic lawmakers that the free-market advocate would not be confirmed by the state Senate. Business lobbyists hailed the move as a nod to an energy policy that could help the state avoid blackouts and ensure that its economy is underpinned by reliable, moderately priced electricity.

The selling of the late president continues. . . . From the Fall 1995 President Gift Catalogue issued by the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda comes the New Presidential Wrist Watch. The $57.50 watch, which bears the presidential seal, is advertised as being available "Just in time for the '96 campaign." Presidential caps are selling for $22 each, available in three styles--White House, Camp David and Air Force One.

Southern California Edison Co. sued state energy regulators Friday, escalating a dispute over public disclosure of the utility's forecasts for electricity demand. In a complaint filed in Sacramento County Superior Court against the California Energy Commission, Edison in essence argues that an informational blackout is preferable to risking inappropriate use of its figures in a market still recuperating from the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.

California Energy Commission Chairman Charles R. Imbrecht resigned this week just a day before being charged by Ventura County prosecutors with drunk driving and marijuana possession. Imbrecht, who represented Ventura County as a state assemblyman from 1976 to 1982, resigned Tuesday after almost 14 years as Energy Commission chairman and following discussions with the staff of Gov. Pete Wilson, officials in Sacramento said. "The governor's office came to a mutual agreement with Mr.

As natural gas futures prices hit new heights Tuesday, a top California energy regulator preached conservation as the only salvation against record winter bills. "Right now prices are much higher than ever seen before and will continue to be high through this winter and into next spring," Joseph Desmond, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said in a briefing.

Hoping to salvage strict water-saving rules for washing machines, the California Energy Commission said Friday that it had notified the agency that blocked the rules that it would be filing suit. The commission also said it had asked a federal court to review the action by the U.S. Energy Department, in the latest legal skirmish stemming from California's push for more stringent regulations covering water and energy use, air emissions and other environmental threats.